For decades, roadway safety efforts have focused on a single, dominant mission: Protect the people inside cars. But vehicle safety issues are very different now.
Car buyers who purchase an SUV or truck “to protect themselves” are turning safety into a zero-sum game, with pedestrians and cyclists paying the price. Buying a bigger car can be a rational choice for an individual or family. But when you scale that decision across an entire nation, it’s a recipe for carnage.
A 2015 federal study found that an SUV is two to three times more likely to kill a pedestrian than a car is. The ascent of SUVs increased pedestrian deaths, which hit a 40-year high in 2021. Cyclist deaths, meanwhile, rose 44 percent from 2010 to 2020.